Ukraine is running out of time to provide western gas consumers with the necessary trust to abandon the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, informs Bruegel.org. This opinion piece was also published in European Pravda.

Data of the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) show that, compared to December 2016, in December 2017 the level of construction costs in Latvia increased by 3.1%. Labour remuneration of workers1 increased by 7.5%, maintenance and operational costs of machinery and equipment - by 2.3%, but prices of building materials - by 1.8%.

In 2017, all Baltic ports together received and shipped 149.571 million tons of cargo, which was 2.4% or 3.568 million tons more than a year before, according to the data released by the Latvian Central Statistical Bureau, cites LETA.

The council of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) has given permission to Vitol Netherlands B.V. to make the final buyout offer for shares in Latvijas Kugnieciba (Latvian Shipping Company), FCMC spokeswoman Agnese Licite told LETA.

EU economy’s future: slow but positive growthGrowth in all EU states will continue in 2019-20, though at a slower pace than before. The largest EU’s economies will grow at around 1,5-1,7%, mostly in Poland, Spain and Holland. The Baltic States’ growth will continue to be on the positive trend.